Converged communication refers generally to an arrangement in which users can communicate seamlessly, through multimedia and multimodal interaction, utilizing a variety of different types of endpoint devices and network infrastructure. Implementation of such functionality may make use of the session initiation protocol (SIP), as described in RFC 3261 of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which is incorporated by reference herein. For example, SIP is one of the most important protocols for implementation of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) communication on Internet-enabled devices. The continuing growth of IP networks and the recognized need for VoIP as an alternative to calls over a public switched telephone network (PSTN) is expected to accelerate the acceptance of SIP as the primary application layer protocol for implementing next generation VoIP in the converged communication context.
Despite the success of SIP as an efficient VoIP protocol, SIP is under constant expansion in order to support new communication services which are not covered in its original scope, such as messaging, authentication, presence, etc. This has made it increasingly difficult to integrate SIP in a converged communication arrangement involving such services. Accordingly, a need exists for an extensible service integration environment that facilitates the integration of SIP in converged communication applications.